Video Sequence Capture Utility




This utility software is a stand-alone package, coupled with the MV-500 or MV-510 boards, the utility captures a video sequence to either system memory or the computer’s hard drive. Vid SEQ is an application program designed to work under Windows 95/98, NT, 2000, or XP with an MV-500 or an MV-510 frame grabber. The sequence can be saved and replayed at a later time. The sequence can be captured and stored as non-compressed files.

Features:

For standard cameras, all front-end adjustment can be done within the utility
For non-standard cameras (with MV-510 board), a camera configuration file may be loaded
A Scaled Grab Window may be defined with the which is based on the defined Maximum Grab Window
Preview live video in the form of the Scaled Grab Window
The Pixel Format and File Format may be selected
A group of Recording Options may be specified by the user
If desired, the video may be monitored while recording
A group of Playback Options may be specified by the user
Based on the selected Pixel Format/File Format, Recording Option and the Monitoring Option, the utility feeds back to the user the best recording rate it can achieve

Recording Settings

The user may control the following settings for recording:

Recording to memory buffers or to disk files.

Recording to memory provides highest performance in terms of speed. But the # of frames are limited by the amount of memory in the system. The frames may be saved to SEQ files off-line. The S/W must report the maximum # of frames allowed, based on the result of the allocation, if big number of frames is asked.

Recording to file provides large number of frames, to be limited by the size of HD. However, the disk access is generally slow, so real time recording may not be available. The utility does not provide any special driver for fast disk access, nor does it take advantage of a AV hard disk. It just uses the generic C runtime library to do disk access. Whatever the speed achieved is what the user will get.

The user may turn ON the Monitoring to watch what is being recorded. But the Monitoring generates higher data movement. Monitoring has the lowest priority among the DMA, the file I/O and the Display. If needed, frames are skipped for Monitoring. If the recording time interval is varied, the TIM file is generated.



Front-End Adjustments

The following adjustments should are for standard cameras (NTSC/PAL, Mono/Color):

All items on the Video Adjustment Dialog Box:
   - Channel
   - VCR mode (MV-500)
   - 2 S-Video mode (MV-500)
   - Monochrome only (MV-500)
   - AGC On/Off (MV-500)
   - Analog Gain (MV-500)
   - Mirroring (MV-500)
   - Hue + Saturation (MV-500)
   - Brightness + Contrast

For MV-510, the PLL and Sync Stripper settings

For MV-510, a Camera Configuration File may be selected and loaded

For MV-510, the LUT settings (from 4 different LUTs)


Defining the Digitizing Window

The user is able define the Digitizing Window.

For standard video, the definition references the Active Video Screen

For non-standard video, the definition references to the Maximum Grab Window of the Camera Configuration File

Based on either the Active Video Screen or the Max. Grab Window a Grab Window may be defined. The default of it is equal to the AVS or the MGW.

Once the Grab Window is defined, the user may apply a scaling to it. Supported scaling factors of 1, 2 and 4.

For scaling greater than 2, the utility always capture fields rather than frames. The user has selection for Odd Fields, Even Fields or Any Fields.

Pixel Formats and File Formats

The utility supports several Pixel Formats and File Formats. The File Formats are closely related to Pixel Formats, but there is no one to one mapping. Also the Pixel Format is related with how the captured video data are displayed if so desired by the user.

For MV-500, the supported Pixel Formats are:
   -YUV - CCIR 601 4:2:2 format (16 bit/pixel)
   -RGB555 - convert to 5:5:5 before DMA by H/W (16 bit/pixel)
   -RGB888 - convert to 8:8:8 before DMA by H/W (24 bit/pixel)
   -RGBX8888 -convert to X:8:8:8 before DMA by H/W (32 bit/pixel)
For MV-510, the supported Pixel Formats are:
   -MONO - 8 bit monochrome (8 bit/pixel)
   -YUV - CCIR 601 4:2:2 format (16 bit/pixel)
The supported File Formats are:
   -TIFF
   -BMP
   -TGA
   -RAW
Plan to add AVI for the future

The table shows the relation between the Pixel Format and File Format, Display mode. Note the following points, which directly affect the performance of the software:

For each of the Pixel Formats, some of the File Formats are not supported (No). The Direct means that the pixel data may be stored to the file without any conversion. Some of the Pixel Formats (RGB888 and RGBX888) generate much higher amount of data; it might reduce the performance of the utility.
For the different Display Modes, some of the Pixel Formats will not be supported (No). A “Direct” means the data could be copied to the Primary Screen (Surface) for higher performance. A “Overlay Surf.” Means the data could be copied to the Overlay Surface for highest performance. Conversion means that the data must be converted for display and the performance will be much lower.
Pixel Format MONO YUV RGB555 RGB888 RGBx8888
File Formats
TIFF Direct Direct Direct Direct Direct
BMP Direct No No Direct Maybe
TGA Direct No Direct Direct Direct
RAW Direct Direct Direct Direct Direct
Display Modes
256 Color Direct (LUT) Overlay Surface No No No
High Color Conversion Overlay Surface Direct Conversion Conversion
True Color 24 Conversion Overlay Surface Conversion Direct Conversion
True Color 32 Conversion Overlay Surface Conversion Conversion Direct

There are three cases in which the display of the video will be involved.

Preview - during or after the user sets up the front-end and Scaled Grab Window, it may be good to look at the live video at the desired window size. At this time, no recording is preformed. This is the Preview Display.
Playback - to playback a recorded video sequence at user controlled speed.
Monitoring - while recording the video, the user might want to watch what is recorded. This puts a much higher burden to the system (the amount of data moved through the PCI bus).

Recording Settings

The user may control the following settings for recording:

Recording to memory buffers or to disk files.
Recording to memory provides highest performance in terms of speed. But the # of frames are limited by the amount of memory in the system. The frames may be saved to SEQ files off-line. The S/W must report the maximum # of frames allowed, based on the result of the allocation, if big number of frames is asked.
Recording to file provides large number of frames, to be limited by the size of HD. However, the disk access is generally slow, so real time recording may not be available. The utility does not provide any special driver for fast disk access, nor does it take advantage of a AV hard disk. It just uses the generic C runtime library to do disk access. Whatever the speed achieved is what the user will get.
The user may turn ON the Monitoring to watch what is being recorded. But the Monitoring generates higher data movement. Monitoring has the lowest priority among the DMA, the file I/O and the Display. If needed, frames are skipped for Monitoring.
If the recording time interval is varied, the TIM file is generated.

Playback Settings

The user may control the following settings for playback:

Playback from memory buffers or from files.
Playback from memory buffers requires either a sequence has been recorded or a sequence file has been loaded.
To achieve the highest possible performance, the user sets the display mode to fit the File Format and Pixel Format to be played. Otherwise, the speed of playback may be slowed.
Provides three playback speeds:
   -Single Step - playback one frame when the operator clicks the button.
   -Normal Speed - playback at normal speed. Here the Normal Speed could be the speed selected by the user or the speed or the recording (controlled with UI).
   -Maximum Speed - if the user selects this, the playback goes as fast as achievable with the current Pixel Format and the Display Mode. The maximum speed will be limited if playback from file.

 



MuTech Corp. February 2002
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